What are you really saying?
Did you know that when most people think they are saying something positive they are often in fact sending negative messages to the subconscious mind and this is hindering their chances of achieving and succeeding?
Back in my nursing days I worked for a time in pathology – collecting blood and other specimens and I noticed that some parents would bring their children in for a blood test and say something along the lines of: 'Don't worry, this won't hurt." For a number of reasons, this sort of talk was somewhat less than helpful! For one thing, if the child does feel a sting, or pain with the blood test, the parent loses credibility. The second aspect of this is that the subconscious mind doesn't acknowledge the negators; 'Don't, not, can't, won't' etc… So the unassuming child in the above scenario all of a sudden begins to 'worry' about being 'hurt'.
REFRAME IT...
So, now to demonstrate how to reframe a negative, recurring thought and help a child to focus on a positive affirmation, let's use the example of a child who says;
"I don't want to go to school because of bullies."
Rather than say "I will go to school and ignore the bullies", which is not really sustainable and is in fact reminding the child of the bullies... it is preferable to consider a more empowering way of dealing with the situation.
Help the child to think of alternative scenarios that could happen at school, such as; They find a friendly person to sit with in class and play with in the yard. So a positive affirmation in this case could be; "I look forward to playing with 'x' at school'.
See, no mention of bullies, and the more this affirmation is repeated, the more the mindset is strengthened. The child will stand taller, look more empowered and positive and less like a victim when they focus on positive, happy thoughts.
THE POSITIVITY METER MAID...
After you've had a go at reframing your own sentence into a positive affirmation, send both to us and we will check to make sure that what you're telling yourself (or your child) is more likely to have a positive effect on the subconscious mind.